


Checks, Balances, and Snowball Fights

by Mishafer



Series: Saturating the Reibert tag with Actual Reibert Fics [15]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Attempt at Humor, Blizzards & Snowstorms, Fluff without Plot, M/M, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 20:01:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17189468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mishafer/pseuds/Mishafer
Summary: Liberio has elected its new mayor, eighteen year-old Bertholdt Hoover. But despite the title he can't help still being a kid at heart. Especially when a blizzard blows in.For the Reibert Winter Weekend prompt: "Snowstorms."





	Checks, Balances, and Snowball Fights

**Author's Note:**

> Yes this is inspired by Parks and Recreation.

The Hoovers had been a pillar of Liberio for generations. The family aided in creation of the parks, the schools, and the libraries. Leading to an on average happier and more educated populace than neighboring towns. Yet incumbent mayor, Maxim Hoover, had fallen ill and was no longer suitable to run for reelection.

The greedy scourge, Rod Reiss, ran unopposed as no one was willing to take the place of Maxim. Bertholdt loved his town too much to see it taken over by the family they'd fought to keep at bay for years. So he stepped up and ran for mayor in place of his father.

He won by a landslide 73% of the vote.

And he was eighteen.

"He's cute..." one girl explained when asked why she voted for him.

"He's respectable," a middle-aged man replied with a firm nod.

"He's a Hoover!" an elderly woman explained. "Amazing family, and he mowed my lawn for me for last summer. If he can do as good of a job with the city as my lawn, then by golly!"

Even Rod Reiss's daughter, Historia, pulled Bertholdt aside on election night and confided that she had voted for him instead of her father.

His campaign manager was his boyfriend, Reiner. And despite worries over a conflict of interest, the opposite had happened. People rejoiced that their future mayor was with someone as upstanding as Reiner Braun. A man whose dream was to become a pediatric nurse. Perfect match for the mayor, the town declared.

A month after inauguration, Bertholdt sat as his desk going over propositions. Wondering how the  _hell_  Grisha Jaegar kept getting reelected onto the city council. Mayor was a tough job. As expected, but he was already straddling the line between proper leader and teenage boy. He still wanted  _fun_.

Bertholdt stretched and his sedentary muscles pleasantly vibrated. The ticking clock on his wall read 9:12 PM. He was ready to go home to his parents estate but work was relentless. A knock on the door frame (he had an open-door policy) caught his attention.

Reiner filled the doorway holding a bag of takeout in his hand. Bertholdt swore an angel's glow surrounded his bulky frame.

Reiner wiggled the plastic bag. "From Konstantinos. Figured you'd gotta be hungry."

Berthloldt bounced to his feet and barreled for him. Planting the most intense of kisses on his lips, tongue and all. Reiner's eyes spread into saucers for a moment before humming into his mouth.

"Oh mister, mayor," Reiner purred against his lips. "We shouldn't do this."

That was the fifth time Reiner had made that joke. Bertholdt learned to ignore it.

He wiped his mouth and cleared his throat, then took the bag. "Thank you. So much." His stomach contracted at the enticing scent of onions and steak wafting from the sack. Bertholdt slid aside the messy array of papers on his desk. Replacing them with gyros, tzatziki sauce, and honey sodas. Sensuous ' _mmm_ ' sounds floated from his throat while he ate. It probably turned Reiner on and he shouldn't be doing  _that_  in the office but he was too hungry and too stressed to care. He even put his elbows on the table.

Reiner took an especially long drink of his soda. "Snowing out there."

"Hange Zoe said on channel ten we're getting a dusting."

He blew out breath. "A dusting? There was a least half a foot when I got in."

Bertholdt raised his eyebrows and swallowed the last of his gyro. "Now I wanna see."

The two cleaned up then Bertholdt undid the blinds—he kept them closed during the night. An old childhood fear of being spied on only because of when Marcel snuck over to his house and was watching him through his bedroom window. Bastard.

Bertholdt's face lit up. "Whoa..."

This was no dusting. The snow funneled down and draped the parking lot and next door park in a white sheet.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Reiner asked, rolling on the balls of his of his feet.

"I hope not," he quipped.

"Snowball fight in the park."

He chewed his lip, squeezing the blind holder. "I'm the mayor."

"Look how thick it is out there, no one's gonna notice, especially when we're all bundled up."

He usually didn't like snowball fights. Being struck in the face with snow was not his idea of a good time. But his nerves were fried and he needed to be a normal teenage boy.

"Okay," Bertholdt said and spun on his heels.

Reiner hopped after him. "Really?"

"Yeah, really." He grabbed his coat off the rack along with his hat and mittens. A matching palate of green and red. Flattering to his eyes and skin tone. A mayor—and a Hoover—had to be stylish at all times.

Reiner hurried back into his winter gear, and Bertholdt pressed the intercom on his desk. "Annie, you there?"

"Where else would I be?" she replied.

"Again, sorry for the late night. You can go home now."

"But I have to finish drawing all over your mural drafts."

His long face dropped. "You're not really doing that, are you?"

A bored sigh came from the other end followed by what sounded like marker scribbling. His finger released the call button. He would deal with that tomorrow.

They moved downstairs and through the well-kept corridors of city hall. A gust of wind greeted them when they opened the front doors. Bertholdt pulled down his hat further. Snow blustered around the two as they trudged through the near foot of the white stuff. A snow-lined plaque preceded the park entrance reading ' _Hoover Park and Playground Est. 1992.'_  Bertholdt made a mental note to look into funding another park. Perhaps a winter sporting arena?

The wind chill was biting, but the excitement from the snowball fight and doing something that kids did immersed him in warmth. A smile illuminated his face with every thrown snowball. But poor Reiner was taking hit after hit from his precise aim.

Bits of snow gathered in the tufts of blond hair that stuck out from his snow cap. His cheeks a bright red that he seldom saw Reiner sporting. It was too cute, and Bertholdt almost felt bad about his endless barrage of snowballs. Until finally Reiner lobbed a big one right in Bertholdt's face. He shook his head and spat out the icy powder.

Reiner chortled and slapped his thighs. "You look like a puppy who ate a spicy pepper."

"Don't mock me, Braun." And he hurled another snowball. Reiner ducked out of the way but it didn't miss. It struck city councilman Levi Ackerman dead in the face.

Both Reiner and Bertholdt froze solid. His soothed nerves reflared as Levi removed his scarf and wiped the snow from his stern face.

"Mr. Mayor," Levi growled.

Bertholdt stood at attention. "Yes, councilman?"

"I was about to turn in our latest proposition when I found your office empty. Ms. Leonhardt was kind enough to inform me she looked out the window and saw you and Mr. Braun 'outside playing.'"

Why, why,  _why_  did Bertholdt's office hire her as an intern?

"Ah, that was my fault," Reiner explained. "I yanked his arm. He wanted to stay and work."

"Then I suggest you get back to it." He visually eviscerated them. "You don't want to  _freeze_."

And Bertholdt thought the temperature was chilling.

"Absolutely," Bertholdt agreed, and the two trailed behind him back toward city hall. Albeit slower than they would normally due as the councilman's much shorter legs.

Another night of endless work was in tow.

***

Something poked Bertholdt's foot as he slept. He mumbled under his breath and moved his leg to side.

"Mr. Hoover. Hey, Mr. Hoover? Bertholdt!"

His eyes opened and he made out the a blurry upside-down figure of his executive assistant, Pieck Mueller.

"I'm awake!" He toppled to the side with an ' _ow_.' Realizing he had fallen asleep in the city hall lounge. His legs had been planted against the wall.

"The council meeting and vote starts in less than an hour." Pieck cocked her head, then licked her palm and smoothed out Bertholdt's hair.

He swatted her hand away. "Agh! I have pomade in my bag. Stop slobbering on me."

Her placid expression remained unchanged and she shrugged a shoulder. "If you insist."

Bertholdt got up with a groan and began his routine he used before important events:

 **Hair:**  Smoothed and in place (with pomade, no saliva needed)  
**Skin:**  Blemish-free. Save for a dab of undereye concealer because like hell is Grisha Yaeger going to think he made him lose sleep.  
**Palms:**  Dry as a bone. Sweaty palms meant he dropped things. Hadn't happened in the chamber yet, but he had to be cautious.  
**Chai latte (delivered by Annie):**  Half-drunk and working on empty. A Bertholdt without the taste of chai on his tongue was utterly inept.  
**Reiner (optional and if available):**  Kissed. A smooch from his sweetheart left him with a nerve-shattering buzz.

In the chamber, he transformed into what others termed 'The Colossus.' A strong, confident, well-spoken man who could wipe the floor with his opponents. All while leaving those watching in a hypnosis of awe.

And he did it with pleasure. Because he loved his town.

Bertholdt emerged spent and deflated. Already sipping on his second chai latte of the day. Frowning when he spotted the doodles on his mural drafts. But that still wasn't important.

Because he hadn't gotten to finish his snowball fight with Reiner.

***

"Is there even enough snow?" Reiner asked. The temperature had risen and rendered most of the snow slush.

Bertholdt knelt down in the backyard of his estate (no chance of a buzz-killing Ackerman there), and formed a slushy snowball. "In my brief time as mayor, I've learned that you have to make do with having too little." He packed the snowball between both mittened hands. "The budget is stretched too thin, and everyone has a different idea of what do with what we have. So when you're faced with three other people on the council wanting to use money to paint the school buses a 'more vibrant shade of yellow for that classic school bussey look' instead of allowing more sick days for the local teachers, you learn how to win. And how to fight."

Reiner bore the same hypnotized look as his watchers had in the chamber. "God, I wish I'd have voted for you twice."

"And I'd had hunted you down for betraying the precious democratic system we all should cherish." He raised the snowball. "Now, t—"

Reiner interrupted him with a kiss, his wet lips engulfing his mouth. They separated with a  _smack_. "I'm sorry you're just so sexy when you're the The Colossus."

Bertholdt returned the kiss in full. Pulling Reiner against his chest and running a hand down his back. His other hand flattened the snowball against his cheek.

Reiner popped off his mouth. "Hey!"

"All is fair in love and war, but not snowball fights."

***

"Wow, how did that even...." Bertholdt panted.

Reiner dragged his hand across his slick forehead. "I don't know, but wow." He rolled on his side to face Bertholdt. "I'm worried I'm gonna get worked up next time I see a snowball fight though."

"Sorry." Bertholdt sat up in bed, and reached for his plush forest green robe.

He had considered moving his bedroom to a larger room. Like the seldom-used second study. But coming home to his childhood bedroom made him feel comforted. Like a normal boy.

He had just tied his robe and set his mind on the last slice of German chocolate cake when Reiner batted his eyelashes and chimed, "Mister mayor?"

That was now the sixth time.

"Yes?" he answered without turning.

"Does sleeping with you mean I get my dog park idea now?"

"No."

He huffed and reached for his tidy whiteys. "You do know the next headline will be 'Mayor Hoover Announces He Hates Dogs,' right?"

He perched on the bed and his lips ghosted Reiner's ear. "I'm a man of integrity. I don't take bribes of the flesh."

Reiner flushed. "Please don't start that again I'll die of thirst."

Bertholdt's phone dinged.

 **Porco** :  _Ribbon-cutting at the new hospital WHERE ARE YOU_

His face went white. Had the snowball fight and uh, after fight activities really lasted—he looked the time on his phone—two hours?

"I gotta get to the hospital," Bertholdt said, scrambling for his clothes. "Ribbon-cutting. My dad worked hard to get that hospital built."

"I'm definitely up for a ribbon—"

"No, you keep distracting me. Plus, I think I'm gonna see if the parks and rec department is interested in a winter sporting arena."


End file.
